


Up in the Air

by ATrainSet



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-09 08:25:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12272631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATrainSet/pseuds/ATrainSet
Summary: Carol Ross is a businesswoman with a massive fear of flying and a secret she's been hiding. Therese Belivet is a flight attendant, carrying some baggage of her own. Will love finally be found above ground?





	1. Race to the Melatonin

“Oh for Christ’s sake, just when you think it couldn’t get any worse…” 

Carol Ross sighs out loud as she is forced to line up in another security queue when the x-ray machine breaks down just as she was placing her carry-on inside. She was rushing to make it in time for her red-eye flight to Los Angeles, and if she were being honest with herself, it was her fault anyway. 

She’d taken an hour at home in New York, to mentally prepare herself in getting on a 6-hour transcontinental plane ride and her anxiety was definitely through the roof, as always. From the outside, she looks like a woman who has it all together. A 5’8 blonde beauty, with piercing blue eyes, alabaster skin and a face sculpted by the gods, you would think twice believing her insides were in froot loops at the prospect of being in a metal cylinder floating 36,000 feet above the ground.

Finally making it past security, she grabs her suitcase and powerwalks her way through the airport terminal looking for her boarding gate. For 1 am, the airport still had a steady buzz of frequent flyers running around in business suits, like Carol herself, who was sporting a sleek grey one with a white button down underneath.

_Flung Out of Space Café_. The words in neon grabbed her attention and without thinking at all, Carol swerves to the right and goes right on in.

“Hi, I’m Florence, what can I get ya?” the redheaded young woman says from behind the counter. Carol smirks to herself at how cheery this girl was at this time of the day.

“Just a coffee please. Black.” 

“Alrighty then!”

Carol’s eye twitches at the high-pitched sound of her voice. _God why can’t that joy rub off on me_ , she thinks to herself.

Florence finally hands her her caffeine boost, and just as Carol picks it up with her left hand, she gets a glimpse of her watch. 

“SHIT!” 

_1:15_ \- her watch read. With just 5 minutes left before her gate closed, Carol made a mad dash in one direction, looking at the gate numbers as she did. 

“22, 23, 24...what gate is that again?!” She fumbled with her purse to take out her boarding pass when her coffee sloshed all over her.

“OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE!”

She threw down the coffee in the trash can, took off her blazer, and finally got the boarding pass.

“48. Great.”

It was not. Gate 48 was on the far other side of the terminal. Carol craned her neck from side to side, flexed her knuckles and performed a few lunges.

“Okay, Ross……GO.”

Carol Ross ran like the wind, Forrest Gump-style to Gate 48 with only a minute to spare. 

“HOLD THE DOOR!!! HOLD THE DOOR!!!!” _Really, Carol? HODOR?_ She chastised herself for making that impulsive coffee break to calm her nerves, like coffee’s gonna do that, but hey, at least she made it in time.

* * *

After stowing away her luggage and laying her butt down on the seat, it was now time to take the next step. Carol took out her melatonin pills to put her right to sleep when the plane took off, so that she wouldn’t have to suffer through the entire flight.

“Hi, excuse me. I know we’re about to take off but can I have a cup of water please?”

Carol gently calls the attention of the flight attendant passing by the aisle for final checks.

“Fear of flying huh?”

“That obvious?”

Carol finally looks up at the woman and is taken aback by the sight of the brunette talking to her - whose green, doe eyes felt like one could drown in them. The vision of a woman points to the bottle of pills on Carol’s seat tray.

“Yeah. A crippling one.” Carol bashfully replies, and this time, takes a long look at the name tag on the woman’s lapel. _Therese._  

“Coming right up then.” Therese flashes her dimples at her and Carol instantly thinks twice whether sleeping through the entire flight was a good idea after all. 

After about a few minutes, Therese comes back with her water and Carol quickly gulps it down with her pills, while the younger woman waits patiently. Carol hands her the empty cup. 

“Thanks.”

“No worries. I do need you to push back the tray coz we’ll be flying soon.” 

Therese is immediately struck with compassion for the older, dishelved blonde. Something about Carol draws the brunette to her amidst the coffee-stained shirt of hers and the absolute look of dread on her face.

Therese was already on her way back to her seat behind in the cabin, but comes back for Carol and says, “Call me, if you need anything.”

 

_You._ Carol unconsciously and immediately thinks to herself.

 

_WHAT THE FUCK, CAROL ROSS. YOU JUST MET THE WOMAN. GET A GRIP._ Carol squints her eyes shut and just dumbly mutters…”Okay.”

 

Therese narrows her eyes, amused at this enigma of a lady, smiles and walks away. 

“Well. That’s that.” Carol says to herself, as the plane takes off and sleep takes over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there you go. That's my first chapter. Please do comment and share some love!!! I'm excited to see how I unfold this story, and if you have any musings on what you may like to see, feel free to comment! :D Thank you for reading!


	2. HERbivore

“Lemon-quinoa avocado-cilantro chickpea salad!”

Carol is jolted awake by the sudden turbulence, only to find the old grey-haired man next to her, eyeing her oddly for blurting out the vegan extravaganza.

“I was being attacked by a mob of herbivores”, Carol curtly says in her unrest.

_Oh great. I’m awake._ She checks her watch. _With still 5 hours to spare. Damn it, I thought I was knocked out longer_. She exhales loudly, and the hair on her forehead wisps along.

Seated in the aisle seat for easy escaping, she gazes around the aircraft, planning on going for a quick bathroom break – only to find out that the pathway in front of her to the loo was blocked by the beverage cart.

And a certain brunette serving refreshments.

Carol quickly jerks back in her seat, clumsily slamming her head on the headrest.

_Carolyn Ross, you are a strong, confident, grown woman…who I might add just turned 40, but that’s beside the point. You have been going on this flight for years now, so why does this new flight attendant suddenly make you act like a fucking lovesick child. SHE JUST GAVE YOU WATER. THAT WAS YOUR ONLY INTERACTION. CHILL. THE. FUCK. OUT._

“Hiiiiiiieeeee”, Carol draws out the words before Therese could even set the cart to a stop and utter a word. _Way to go, Miss Easy Breezy Beautiful._

“Hey. You’re awake.”

“Turbulence rocked my world.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” _Smoooooth._  

Therese cocks her head to the side and smiles again at the blonde. Her green eyes, sparkling and lighting up the dim and stuffy cabin. 

“Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea…”

_Or me?_ Therese stops, in her mind, as she realizes what almost came out of her mouth. The older woman seems to not be alone in her flustered musings of the heart.

Carol eyes her carefully as the younger woman stutters and for what seemed like hours, they entered an unexpected staring contest.

“I’ll have red wine please.” The gruff gentleman finally decides to play referee and breaks apart the amorous staredown.

“Uhhhhh right, tea will do.” Carol follows suit, as she bends down to pick up her laptop case stowed under the seat in front of her, wanting too to crawl underneath, out of sheer embarrassment.

A flushed-face Therese, eager to redeem herself, takes charge of pouring the drinks, and decides to strike a little conversation

“You plan on working?”, she says as she hands the coffee to the man beside Carol.

“Yup. Quite swamped actually.” Carol replies as she takes the cup from Therese, their fingers slightly touching.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome….and for you, ma’am?” Therese turns to the woman on the opposite side.

“An orange juice, dear”, the white-haired bespectacled lady replies.

“What is it that you do?” She continues the conversation with the blonde as she pours a cup of orange juice.

“I’m the head of the startup vegan food supplier, Sprout. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.”

“You’re kidding?!”

“Sadly, no…Why?”, Carol nervously chuckles.

Therese hands the other passenger her drink then starts to unlock the brakes of the cart.

“Consider me a loyal customer then. I’m vegan too...”, she says as she slowly pushes the cart away from the pleasantly surprised _organic executive_.

Therese, who out of nowhere is a fan of coming back for Carol, quickly looks over her shoulder.

“And I must say…”

Carol looks at her.

 

“I do enjoy what you serve”, Therese winks and walks away.

 

_WHAT. WAS. THAT._

 

The two women think to themselves.

Carol rubs her forehead and takes a sip of her tea to calm her shaken nerves. She was smitten, no doubt about it, but it was too quick. _She’s probably just a really good attendant._ She says to herself. _Don’t think much of it._ She follows her train of thought. _You haven’t been in a relationship for years, Ross, and your mother just died. You’re lonely. And the moment a beautiful, young woman gives you the heart eyes, you get sucked into the whirlpool. Go back to work. I beg of you._ Carol sighs and opens her laptop. She starts crunching in the numbers, hoping to get distracted from whatever it was in her heart’s desire.

On the opposite end of the aircraft, Therese inwardly questions how bold she is all of a sudden, realizing she was totally in over her head, at how forward she seems towards the beautiful passenger. _You don’t even know her name. Belivet. But hey, at least she’s vegan. Gen practically ridiculed you every single time you had to go for the green option._ Therese begins her mental ruminations of her ex-girlfriend, Gen, who broke it off a year ago, after being a couple for 5.

Gen and Therese had been an ideal couple from Baton Rouge in the beginning. A flight attendant and a ground passenger service agent, the two hit it off quickly. Gen understood the heavy demands of constant traveling and she was more than willing to let Therese go out and spread her wings. Therese, knowing full well how difficult it must be for Gen to be left alone, tried her damnest to maintain a constant flight rotation, even surprising Gen, pulling a few strings here and there, by coming home ahead of schedule on multiple occasions.

But over time, the relationship just went stale on Gen’s part. She became much more irritable and unyielding to the various unforeseen circumstances Therese’s job called for, and on one night that Therese managed to switch flights with her co-worker to spend quality time with Gen, it was she who was surprised to find out that her significant other was gone, along with most of their stuff, including Therese’s treasured vinyl records.

_SHE JUST HAD TO TAKE THE BILLIE HOLIDAY ONE._ Therese seethes.

She knew that this was coming anyway, but she was livid at how detached Gen did it. No letter, no note, no explanation. It was like the five years, which they shared, was nothing but a bad episode of your favorite TV show on Netflix you chose to skip past through. It was then that Therese decided that she didn’t want to be around any reminders of her past encounter with love, and went back home to her parents’ house in Shreveport. She left her job in the old airlines she shared with her ex, not wanting to have any close possibility of running into each other and applied for the current company she was in.

_God, Therese. You’re already comparing her to Gen?_ She shuts the cabinet containing the meal utensils and sighs heavily, leaning onto the counter. It’s been a year since that happened, but Therese was still apprehensive in trying to enter the dating game again, afraid that she will no doubt be left again in the process.

But awhile ago with Carol? That’s what took her off guard. She was brazen and confident, like she was getting her mojo back. There really was something about her, and she just couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. It was as if, she knew who Carol was already, and felt totally at ease with her.

A small smile made its way to her lips. The old Therese was making a roundtrip flight back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was so in the mood to write because of all your kind comments! This chapter was more of a way we get to learn about Therese, but I promise Carol will get her turn in the spotlight too. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing the playful cart encounter :) As always, I really am so appreciative of everyone's comments and I look forward to reading what you all have to say. Again if there are ideas you suddenly have in mind, tell me!! :) THANK YOU THANK YOU


	3. That Warm Feeling

_“Baa..baa…black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir…yes sir…eye bags full.” Carol, don’t you know that you actually had to count the sheep in order to bore yourself to slumber._

Hour 4 out of 6. Carol’s eyes flutter open as she realizes how futile her attempts were at getting some needed shuteye. She stares blankly at the opened Excel file mocking her on her laptop screen. Releasing a heavy breath, she minimizes the window and comes face to face with her mother.

Well, a reminder of her that is.

Eleanor Ross was perfection personified. Beauty, grace, intelligence and class all rolled into the wife of a renowned politician from a small town in Alabama, she served as a beacon of hope and light to the townsfolk, and was also a teacher, keen on molding the young minds of tomorrow.

But according to her, the most significant job she had, the one role she treasured the most, and prioritized above all – was being the mother to her two darling girls, Carolyn and Madelyn.

Carol and Maddie loved their mother to the earth’s end. With their father being gone away most of the time or cooped up in his office, Eleanor was their very best friend, role model and pillar of strength.

When Carol came into terms with her sexuality, it was her mother and sister who accepted her whole-heartedly. Coming from a family whose lives were in the public spotlight, her father, conservative as he was, chose to keep this under wraps, for fear of being scrutinized and ridiculed by the masses.

Eleanor, though, chose the compassionate path.

“You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. In fact, sweetheart, I respect you more for the brave person that you are. I must have done something right as your mother, seeing you grow into the woman you are now…I love you, hunnybug. I always will.”

Nothing could tear down the fortress of love and mutual trust the three women built – not even the death of their father that one faithful evening he suffered a car crash, the night he chose to go out drinking with his council.

Until cancer came knocking on Eleanor’s door.

Carol wiped the tears welling up in her eyes as she remembered the ordeal they had to go through, until Ellie’s death a mere 2 months ago.

_I can’t do this now. Not now. Be a fortress, Carol._

Carol gives one last look at the wallpaper photo of the Ross trio, slams her laptop shut, folds her arms and tightly closes her eyes.

 

* * *

_“Baa..baa…black sheep, have you any wool?”_

_“Yes mom…yes mom…three bags full.”_

_A young Carol giggles as her mother blows a raspberry on her cheeks._

_“Goodnight, my darling chickiedie.”_

_“Night night, mom.”_

_Eleanor, clothed in her plush pink cotton robe, walks over to Maddie’s bed. She kisses the younger daughter’s forehead._

_“And you, my darling monkey, goodnight, sweetheart.”_

_“G’night, momma.” , Maddie says in that adorable Southern accent of hers._

_“Now, don’t go all giggling into the wee hours of the morning again, okay?”_

_El_ _eanor chuckles as she sees her two girls burying themselves under their blankets as they start plotting mischief once their mother closes the door. She shakes her head and walks over to Carol’s bed._

_“GOTCHA!” , she shouts as she tickles Carol who was using her blanket for protection. A fit of giggles and shrieks ensue as Maddie climbs over Eleanor to join in on the tickle war._

_Her mother jokingly slams Carol onto the bed and covers her with her blanket._

_“Alright alright. It’s really time for bed now, bubby.”_

_She kisses Carol again on the forehead, and tucks her in real tight._

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we’ve already started our initial descent into sunny Los Angeles, California…”

Carol blocks out the rest of what the captain was saying when she realizes that she now was wrapped up in an airline blanket as well.

The rest of the flight went by uneventfully while the plane was descending. Carol only saw Therese when she was doing her final checks of the cabin but the brunette only gave her a small smile and went along with her duties.

She was certain it was her who placed the blanket over her while she was asleep, and Carol couldn’t help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside at the kind, caring gesture.

_Would it be too forward if I hug her out of the blue? Is it possible to feel this way in just 6 hours? I swear that woman. Therese. Flung out of space._

Her head bounces forward as the plane touches down on the runway and taxis to the terminal.

The seatbelt sign is switched off and everyone scrambles to get their overhead carry-ons.

_One more time. Please let me see her one more time. Please let her be waiting near the doors._

Carol finds herself hoping and wishing to see Therese before disembarking to thank her. As the doors open and the passengers inch their way slowly out, Carol sees her, by the door, greeting everyone goodbye.

_Courage, Carol. Courage._

As Carol overwhelmingly draws near, her nerves get the best of her. She stops in front of Therese awkwardly and nods instead.

“Thanks.” , Carol says as she attempts to look into those green eyes.

“No problem.” , Therese replies dumbfounded as Carol hastily walks away.

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

The blonde mutters to herself as she walks further on the passenger walkway.

_Ahhhhhh what the hell._

She turns back towards the plane.

“Excuse me, I forgot something.” , she says to the passengers in her way and spots Therese.

Carol approaches and stands in front of her. The rest of the disembarking passengers squeeze behind as they hurry to leave the aircraft.

Therese, for the first time in the last 6 hours, finally sees Carol genuinely smile. Her joy radiating like a vision. Her nose scrunching a little, and tiny wrinkles forming near her blue ocean eyes. Therese was cast under her spell.

“I never got the chance to thank you…sincerely...a while ago….for what you did…so…”

Carol leans in and plants a quick kiss to Therese’s cheek, as the flight attendant blushes instantly.

“…Thank you.” , the older woman smiles again and grabs her suitcase as she heads out.

Therese is taken aback with what just transpired and her heart was beating at 90 miles per hour. _This was the best flight ever. I love my job._ Her fingers graze her cheek, where Carol kissed her.

Carol would have practically been skipping out to the arrivals area, if she thought it wouldn’t have made her a ridiculous sight to see – but that’s what she was feeling. Giddy and happy and enamored…and high. This felt right. She knew it.

 _Oh momma, what do you think about this girl?_ , she wonders as she remembers that one of her mother’s dying wishes was that Carol ultimately find the love of her life.

 _Oh honey._ Carol could hear Eleanor’s distinct drawl. _I think she’s great. There’s only one problem though. You didn’t even get her number._

.....

“SHIT.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was Carol's turn at having some of her backstory exposed :) The feelings are starting to ascend further into the air, amidst the plane descending am I right? More to come soon! I really do enjoy reading your comments and they mean so so so much to me! Looking forward to everyone's thoughts on this. Love you guys!


End file.
